Box Score in HTML Format

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- The 27th-ranked Christopher Newport men's tennis team carried a 2-1 lead after a thrilling round of doubles play in the 2016 Capital Athletic Conference Championship, but the 26th-ranked Mary Washington Eagles responded in singles to win 5-2 and capture their 17th straight league title.

The second-seeded Captains fall to 13-9 with the setback while Mary Washington earns the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament after improving to 18-9 this season. 

The marquee matchup coming into the championship match was going to be No. 1 doubles, and, as advertised, the action lived up to its top billing. A pair of regionally-ranked tandems did battle as the 4th ranked CNU tandem of Chiraag Shetty and Steven Boslet was paired up against 7th ranked Brandon Griffin and Matt Miles. 

The bout did not look close at the start, with the Mary Washington duo getting out to a commanding 5-0 lead, but the Captains roared back. With the other two matches having finished already, and the team score split at one match apiece, the 1 doubles win looked like it might have major implications in the match and the Captains carried their weight, storming all the way back to win 9-8, in a breaker. 

CNU's other win came at No. 2 doubles, where sophomore tandem Justin Cerny and David Reed cruised past Eric Hurwitz and Nolan Perugini, 8-2. 

Carrying a 2-1 edge into singles play, the Captains looked primed to end the Eagles record 16-year reign atop the conference, but the home team quickly answered back. At three singles, Hurwitz downed Boslet (6-1, 6-4) and the Eagles took the lead after Patrick Hughes defeated Arttu Fiva at five singles (6-0, 6-2). 

At one singles, Reed, ranked 10th in the Atlantic South, was defeated by Griffin, ranked 15th in the region. The final score was 6-3, 6-4, setting up the match-clinching point at No. 4 singles. Senior Chiraag Shetty had the best showing for the Captains at No. 4, forcing a first set tiebreaker against Miles. The UMW rookie snuck away with a win in the first set, 7-6 (9-7), and then clinched the match with a 6-2 win in the second set. 

The final two singles matches went unfinished, but Justin Cerny won the first set at No. 2 singles against David Lunding-Johansson, and sophomore Dillon Sykes was leading in the second set when the match was called. Sykes also stretched his opponent, Derek Hagino, at No. 6, to a first-set tiebreaker before falling 7-6.